The Strength of a Heart
by HauntedReality
Summary: Set after the end of A Knights Tale. Jocelyn and Will are to be wed at the end of the month. The romance between of Christie and Roland is blossoming into a rose before the group’s very eyes. Count Adhemar had vowed his revenge on the flat of his back.
1. Chaucer

_(Set after the end of A Knights Tale. Jocelyn and Will are to be wed at the end of the month. The romance between of Christie and Roland is blossoming into a rose before the group's very eyes. Count Adhemar had vowed his revenge on the flat of his back months before, when Will had unhorsed him. Edward, the Black Prince is throwing them a banquet in honor of the impending wedding of Jocelyn and Will, which is where we return to the group. The story is told from Chaucer and Kate's viewpoint.)  
_  
All eyes raise and turn to the large entry staircase, as Sir William and Lady Jocelyn make their entrance. The lady is encased in a long flowing gown in the tones of sapphires and emeralds. Her hair is threaded with ribbons of the same tones, swept romantically up away from her face. Her face is shining with the love that they share.  
  
It is a strange sight for my eyes to see, William dressed the part of a proper English nobel. His hair had been tamed by the many groomsmen that had flocked to him like the crows to the corn. His tunic matched Jocelyn's dress in colors. Although I could see the obvious discomfort that flashed across his face, if you did not know him, you would think that this is completely natural for him. He smiled when he saw our small little group, huddled near the edge of the dance floor, out of the way of the other nobles. The Black Prince noticed us standing there and made his way over. His black tunic seemed to flow over him like he was a Greek god. "Good Evening all. I expect you have enjoyed your stay at my castle. I am sorry that I have not been of more available to you, but with the ever present threat of war with France my hands have been tied." He bowed looking over at Kate and took her hand and placed a kiss upon it. She blushed a few shades darker than Wat's hair, then returned to her lovely porcelain color. Her dress was the color of autumn leaves drifting down from the trees. It made her raven black hair shine like the sea. I sighed softly, knowing that I could not have competed with him for her affections, and knew that she would never be intrigued by me. I am just a writer. A poor English writer, and as it seems, she could have the Black Prince to woo her affections. And they don't call him the Undefeated Black Prince for nothing. He's never lost a battle. There is no way that I could compete with him in any manner. He's more graceful, stronger, more vigilant, and more dashing. I looked down at my clothes and thought that he was also much better dressed. I was wearing a tunic that Roland had sewed me. It was not nearly as ornate or as flattering. I sighed, and resolved myself to not trying to win our Kate's affections, and to look else where for a muse for my writings. Roland seemed to notice my dour expression because he elbowed me in the ribs, and muttered at me. "Look more happy. This is a night for enjoyment, not for sour expressions such as that. You're a writer fake it." I looked at him and gave him a fake smile, and then bowed and left the room and the castle.  
  
I needed fresh air. I looked around and decided that I would take a walk through London and hopefully find myself somewhere nice to drown my sorrows. No one followed me. I just walked along, kicking pebbles that crossed my path and trying to compose a love poem in my head so that I might write it down later. "What rhymes with ivory... nothing... damn and blast. Hmm..." I saw up ahead a tavern that was well lit and looked to be a jolly good time. "The Rusted Swords... that doesn't sound too promising a armory... but it does sound like they'll have some fine ale." I walked inside and sat down, telling the wench to bring me a round of ale and some bread and cheese. I pulled an ink well, quill and parchment out of my pocket and put them down on the table, trying to write out the poem that I had been thinking about. I bit my lip as I wrote, trying not to mess up the lettering.

Her eyes are like dark pools,  
Deep and curious,  
Drowning my heart with a desire,  
To know what she is thinking behind those eyes.

I looked down at what I had written and sighed. I was thinking of her again. Her raven hair and dark eyes. I downed my ale and then another before crumpling the paper and leaving the tavern. I headed back to the castle, in need of sleep, hoping that the warmth of my bed would drive out the cold in my heart. 


	2. Longing for Her

The next morning I awakened to a cool breeze coming into my room. I tried to remember what had happened the evening before and sighed when I saw the half empty parchment sitting on the desk. It was the poem that I had started to write last night. I frowned seeing the empty bottle beside it. Apparently I had managed to find some alcohol to sate my thirst. I sat up in my bed, pulling one of the firs up and around my bare shoulders, and rubbing my temples to help alleviate the headache that I could only assume was coming from all the drink the night previous. It throbbed in my head sounding like war drums being beaten inside of my head. It was quite chilly in the room. I looked over at the window and saw that it was open. I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the window, looking out at it and taking in the fresh air. It was tinged with the scent of a morning rain. I looked and saw the Prince walking across the courtyard below with a lovely young lady. She had her dark hair pulled up in a lovely array of curls, and had a lovely white dress on that was decorated with leaves in the color of a red rose. Then she laughed, and her face shown. At that moment I knew that this lovely lady was our dear Kate. I could not believe my own two eyes, and had to call Wat into my room for confirmation. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked into my room, running his fingers through his hair, and scratching himself before looking out the window. His eyes became wide and a look of shock showed on his face. "Oy!" He yelled out my window. I winced at both the loud sound and at Wat's lack of couth, and pulled back from the window as to not be seen. "What is it Wat?" Kate yelled up from the courtyard. "Why are you all fancied up? I thought ye'd be working on some new armor for William," Wat yelled in return. I sighed... at least he wasn't saying 'Geoff want's to know...' or something like that. She replied that she needed to rest her hands for a while, and that William was fine with it.

Wat closed the window and smiled a knowing smile at me. "Good enough for you?" He winked at me. "I don't know what you're talking about." Wat was no fool he had noticed the looks of infatuation that had I had sent to her when she had her back turned to me working in her forge. Her hair back in a loose braid, coming out and framing her face. Her hands working knowingly with the metal and tools of her trade. She would pause and wipe her forehead with the back of her hand, pausing before putting the metal back into the fire making it more and more flexible. It seemed like during this time she was not only shaping armor for knights, but also the shape of my heart. It seemed like her roughened hands held my heart, but she didn't even know it. When I came back to myself, Wat was heading out the door. "You won't say anything will you?" He turned and shook his head in a silent agreement. I knew that he would keep his word by the very honest look in his eyes. He knew that the only one that Kate would believe would be me. He continued to walk out of the room, probably to get dressed for lunch. I looked back over at the desk and sat down to see what I had written on the parchment. It was pretty much what I had written the previous night. Except for the addition of another stanza. I read it slowly trying to make out the scrawl of the pen marks that I had written in my drunken state:

I desire to run my fingers through her raven hair,

To feel her lips touch mine,

My body longs to feel her next to me.

She is the object of my desire.

I shook my head and crumpled the piece of parchment into a ball and tossed it over at the basket the maid had put in my room for such purposes. I missed the basket and succeeded in hitting Kate as she walked into my room.


	3. Not Sure What to Say

"Oy! Watch where you're throwing things there," She called out. I stood up shocked as I heard her voice. I quickly ran a hand through my hair trying to get it to behave itself. I looked over at her and noticed things that I could not have noticed from the height of my window. She was wearing beautiful fall leaves in her hair as an adornment and seemed to be wearing rouge on her cheeks. I guess I must have stared because she frowned. "Are you alright? You look as though you've seen a ghost..." I shook my head. "I've just not seen you look so lovely before Kate." I took her hand and kissed it softly, keeping my eyes down. When I stood back up to my full height, I could see the tell tale signs of a blush fading away from her skin. She looked down at her clothes and gave a Gaelic shrug. "Lady Jocelyn thought that it would be nice on my day off to wear the clothes of a real lady... not an armorist... So I let her doll me up to keep her from whining," she replied. I tried to keep my comments to myself for fear that she would think me forward by saying that I was glad that she let Jocelyn have her way because now I got to view the late cherry blossom bloom right before my eyes.

She sat down in the chair by the window and began to speak. The sound of her resounded in my ears. It was beautiful and seemed almost bell like.I did not know if it was just that I was in love with her, but she seemed to drown out all of the noise in the courtyard and stables below with just the slightest word. "Did you hear anything that I just heard?" I shook my head. "I'm sorry Kate... I did not hear it my dear. I was lost in a thought." I mentally kicked myself for not listening. She sighed and then said, "So why did you leave last night? You didn't even say goodbye to any of us." I thought for a moment. "I wasn't feeling up for the happy occasion so I thought that making myself scarce would have been better than have me ruin everyone's evening." She nodded at my answer. "I had hoped to have a dance with you, but you left... so the Prince was good enough to keep me from being a wallflower for some of the evening when he wasn't dancing with the lovely Lady Jane. She is beautiful. Is it wrong of me to be envious of her beautifully unscarred hands?" She was looking at her own hands as she said this. I couldn't bare this cross that I was carrying any longer. "No it is not wrong, but you can say something that Lady Jane can't." I walked over to her and nealed before her, taking her hands into one of mine and ran my finger tips across one of the many rough spots on her hand. "What is that Geoff?" She asked, looking up at me. "You can say that while Lady Jane may have hands smooth as lilies, you have done what few women have done. You have survived being left behind by the man you love's passing. You can say that you earned your place in the world through your hard work. You love your craft. I don't think you would be the same Kate that we know if it was not for these lovely hands. And they are you know." I was looking her in the eyes as I finished. Her eyes were wet with tears that I knew that she would never let spill out of those eyes. Those beautiful eyes encased in thick black lashes that any of the ladies of Edward's court would have killed to have. "Geoff are you meaning what I think you mean?" She looked a little like a cornered animal. I knew that if I said that I did mean what she thought I meant that she would run, and if I didn't... she would still run. "What do you think that I mean?" It was the only answer that I could think of that would buy me sometime for me to think. "Nevermind..." She pulled her hands out of mine and walked out of my room, leaving me on my knees on the hard stone floor. I put my head in my hands not knowing what I could have said that would have made her fling her arms around me and pronounce how much she loved me too. I sighed slightly resolved to that if she wanted us to be, then it would be, but only in her time. She would have to make another move for me to feel so bold as I had today. A maid came to the room and said, "Are you alright my lord? Is there anything that I can get you?" I thought for a moment. "Have my supper sent up to me... I'm very busy trying to think up my next piece for me to come downstairs." She nodded and left, promising that my food would be up shortly. I stood up and closed the door, changing into a clean pair of pants and shirt and then pulled out a fresh piece of parchment to write on. I fiddled with the quill until I felt the urge to put it against the paper again and start to write.


	4. Can't Get Her Off My Mind

I ate dinner in silence, the sounds of the courtyard my only solace from my thoughts. Her beautiful dark eyes, her lips that looked so soft and kissable, they all haunted my thoughts. I'd close my eyes to try and focus my mind and they would bleed through the walls that I was trying to build to hold them out. But they leaked through the cracks.

I looked over at the trash can and picked up the ball of parchment. I uncrumpled it gently, smoothing it out on the tabletop. I looked over the scrawl and wished that somehow I could just tell her how I feel. I never could seem to find the courage. Today I had never been closer to telling her than when she sat in that chair. Her hands were so beautiful. I don't think that she will ever realize that. Her mind so focused on the fact that she is not like the ladies of the court.

I walked over to the window and scratched my chin. I saw that the light in the forge was on, and there was smoke coming from the stack. I thought long and hard, my head fighting against my heart. I knew that I had to see her. I wanted to see her more than the sunrise in the morning. I gathered some blank parchment and my quill, and walked out the door. I intended to sit in the forge and work on the courage to tell her. 


	5. Double Confession

I walked down to the forge and opened the door quietly. Kate looked up from the peace of steel that she was working. Her face seemed to show her frustration. "Oh... Hello," she said, turning her attention back to the metal. I sighed, thinking that I had ruined my chance. "Are you just going to stand there and watch, or did you want something?" She continued.

I took a deep breath. "I thought that I could sit in here, I am in a bit of a quandry with what I should write next. I looked over at her expectantly.

She shrugged her shoulders. I could tell that she was hiding something from me.

"Kate... have you ever had something so important to say and not know how to put the words together to say it?" I thought maybe a little conversation would bring out both my courage and the right moment for me to tell her.

"Geoff... it would be impossible for you to not be able to put the words together to say anything that is on your mind. You are a man of many words," she replied haughtily.

"Perhaps I should just read you something that I wrote? I think that perhaps that would help me a bit with getting started..." I stammered.

"Go for it Geoff... I'm all ears," she said. She put the piece of metal down on the anvil and hung her tools back in their places. She leaned against the table and crossed her arms across her chest.

I took a deep breath, and pulled the crumpled piece of parchment out of my pocket. I cleared my throat before I began.

"Her eyes are like dark pools,  
Deep and curious,  
Drowning my heart with a desire,  
To know what she is thinking behind those eyes...

I desire to run my fingers through her raven hair,  
To feel her lips touch mine,  
My body longs to feel her next to me.  
She is the object of my desire. "

I looked back over at her and saw her eyes wet with unshed tears. I took another deep breath before continuing. "I have a confession to make, dear Kate... most recently all of my works, my prose, my poetry have revolved around a single woman. A woman that I have been in love with since the day that I laid eyes on her. Her words when she was helping a friend touched my heart so that it seemed to melt right in my chest. She told him that love ends with hope. It is my hope that she will love me too."

I saw a single tear slide down her cheek, and reached out to wipe it away with my thumb, the rest of my hand caressing her cheek. I put my other arm around her, and pulled her close. She slid into my arms and wrapped her own around me, letting the tears loose, they soaked my shirt, but it was a welcome occurance. I held her close and kissed the top of her head.

She sniffled softly and hiccuped as she pulled back gently. "I... I... don't really know what to say Geoff... I never thought that I would feel this way after the loss of my husband, God rest him, but I have felt a strange fluttering in my heart since the first night you came in my forge and wrote while I worked. Knowing you were there, it made me smile and hum a little on the inside, but I dared not tell you that. I didn't think that you thought that I was enough."

I smiled down at her. "You will always be more than enough, my dear Kate." 


End file.
